"What is one always afraid of in these cases?"
Battle nodded.
"You"re quite right. I wonder "
"You wonder what, my friend?"
Battle said slowly:
"I"m wondering if Miss Meredith knows that her friend told Mrs. Oliver a certain fact."
Poirot nodded his head in vigorous appreciation.
"Hurry, my friend," he said.
They hastened along the river bank. There was no craft visible on the water"s surface, but presently they rounded a bend, and Poirot suddenly stopped dead.
Battle"s quick eyes saw also.
"Major Despard," he said.
Despard was about two hundred yards ahead of them, striding along the river bank.
A little farther on the two girls were in view in a punt on the water, Rhoda punting--Anne lying and laughing up at her. Neither of them were looking towards the bank.
And then--it happened. Anne"s hand outstretched, Rhoda"s stagger, her plunge overboard her desperate grasp at Anne"s sleeve--the rocking boat--then an overturned punt and two girls struggling in the water.
"See it?" cried Battle as he started to run. "Little Meredith caught her round the ankle and tipped her in. My G.o.d, that"s her fourth murder!"
They were both running hard. But some one was ahead of them. It was clear that neither girl could swim, but Despard had run quickly along the path to the nearest point, and now he plunged in and swam towards them.
"Mon Dieu, this is interesting," cried Poirot. He caught at Battle"s arm.
"Which of them will he go for first?"
The two girls were not together. About twelve yards separated them.
Despard swam powerfully towards them--there was no check in his stroke.
He was making straight for Rhoda.
Battle, in his turn, reached the nearest bank and went in. Despard had just brought Rhoda successfully to sh.o.r.e. He hauled her up, flung her down and
plunged in again, swimming towards the spot where Anne had just gone under. "Be careful," called Battle. "Weeds."
He and Battle got to the spot at the same time, but Anne had gone under before they reached her.
They got her at last and between them towed her to the sh.o.r.e.
Rhoda was being ministered to by Poirot. She was sitting up now, her breath coming unevenly.
Despard and Battle laid Anne Meredith down.
"Artificial respiration," said Battle. "Only thing to do. But I"m afraid she"s gone."
He set to work methodically. Poirot stood by, ready to relieve him.
Despard dropped down by Rhoda. "Are you all right?" he asked hoa.r.s.ely.
She said slowly:
"You saved me. You saved me "She held out her hands to him, and as he took them she burst suddenly into tears. He said, "Rhoda .... " Their hands clung together ....
He had a sudden vision---of African scrub, and Rhoda, laughing and adventurous, by his side ....
CHAPTER 30
Murder
"Do you mean to say," said Rhoda incredulously, "that Anne meant to push me in?
I know it felt like it. And she knew I can"t swim. But but was it deliberate?" "It was quite deliberate," said Poirot.
They were driving through the outskirts of London.
"But but why?"
Poirot did not reply for a minute or two. He thought he knew one of the motives that had led Anne to act as she had done, and that motive was sitting next to Rhoda at the minute.
Superintendent Battle coughed.
"You"ll have to prepare yourself, Miss Dawes, for a bit of a shock. This Mrs. Benson, your friend lived with, her death wasn"t quite the accident that it appeared--at least, so we"ve reason to suppose."
"What do you mean?"
"We believe," said Poirot, "that Anne Meredith changed two bottles."
"Oh, no--no, how horrible! It"s impossible. Anne? Why should she?"
"She had her reasons," said Superintendent Battle. "But the point is, Miss Dawes, that, as far as Miss Meredith knew, you were the only person who could give us a clue to that incident. You didn"t tell her, I suppose, that you"d mentioned it to Mrs. Oliver?"
Rhoda said slowly: "No. I thought she"d be annoyed with me."
"She would. Very annoyed," said Battle grimly. "But she thought that the only danger could come from you, and that"s why she decided to er--eliminate
yOU."
"Eliminate? Me? Oh, how beastly! It can"t be all true."
"Well, she"s dead now," said Superintendent Battle, "so we might as well leave it at that; but she wasn"t a nice friend for you to have, Miss Dawes-and that"s a fact."
The car drew up in front of a door.
"We"ll go in to M. Poirot"s," said Superintendent Battle, "and have a bit of a talk about it all." In Poirot"s sitting-room they were welcomed by Mrs. Oliver, who was entertaining Dr. Roberts. They were drinking sherry. Mrs. Oliver was wearing one of the new horsy hats and a velvet dress with a bow on the chest on which reposed a large piece of apple core.
492
"Come in. Come in," said Mrs. Oliver hospitably and quite as though it were her house and not Poirot"s. "As soon as I got your telephone call I rang up Dr.
Roberts, and we came round here. And all his patients are dying, but he doesn"t care. They"re probably getting better, really. We want to hear all about everything."
"Yes, indeed, I"m thoroughly fogged," said Roberts.
"Eh bien," said Poirot. "The case is ended. The murderer of Mr. Shaitana is found at last."
"So Mrs. Oliver told me. That pretty little thing, Anne Meredith. I can hardly believe it. A most unbelievable murderess."
"She was a murderess all right," said Battle. "Three murders to her credit-- and not her fault that she didn"t get away with a fourth one."
"Incredible!" murmured Roberts.
"Not at all," said Mrs. Oliver. "Least likely person. It seems to work out in real life just the same as in books." "It"s been an amazing day," said Roberts. "First Mrs. Lorrimer"s letter. I suppose that was a forgery, eh?"